OLEDs make use of thin organic films that emit light when voltage is applied across the device. OLEDs are becoming an increasingly interesting technology for use in applications such as flat panel displays, illumination, and backlighting. Several OLED materials and configurations are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,844,363, 6,303,238, 5,707,745, and 7,279,704, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
OLED lighting or illumination devices typically emit light having a warm white color, containing blue and yellow or preferably, blue, green and red. However, the use of blue light often limits the overall lifetime of the device, and thus the blue light component can be the primary limiting factor on the efficiency of a lighting panel. Currently available white OLED lighting panels do not allow for the blue component to be independently controlled because most OLED lighting panels use blue LED with yellow phosphor to generate white light.
A method and apparatus for controlling different colors of LEDs using a controller is described in Lys et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,598,686). However, Lys is only directed to generating different colors of light in a lighting device, and is not directed to devices, systems and methods for increasing the lifetime and efficiency of a lighting panel that emits white light by reducing the intensity of wavelengths associated with low lifetime or efficiency when such wavelengths are not needed or desired.
Thus, there is a need in the art for devices and methods that can be used to individually control the wavelengths of light in an OLED lighting panel to improve the efficiency and lifetime of the lighting panel. Described herein are devices and methods that address this unmet need.